Former retail workers will be able to retire to homes equipped to provide the latest in telecare, once a major redevelopment is completed in Newton Mearns, in East Renfrewshire.
A scheme to create 100 affordable, digitally enabled homes in the Cottage Homes retirement estate at Crookfur will increase the accommodation for retail retirees in the area, thanks to an investment by the charity retailTRUST.
The completed homes will be open to anyone who has worked in retail for at least five years, as well as to their partner or spouse. The project is also being backed by the Bank of Scotland with a £5m development loan.
It aims to help more people live independently in their own homes by supporting digitally connected living. The estate was donated by the late Scottish businessman Sir Hugh Fraser, and his daughter Patricia said: “The Fraser family, and especially my father, have had a very close affinity with Crookfur Cottage Homes since well before the first buildings were established in the 1960’s."
Since Sir Hugh gifted it, the estate had been developed for the benefit of Crookfur residents for mor than six decades, she said. "It is a relationship which has stood the test of time and today we at the Foundation are pleased to be able to support the next phase of the redevelopment.”
Fraser Sime, regional director at the Bank of Scotland, said: “The funding we have provided will help the retailTRUST to continue to transform the lives of people across the Glasgow area.
“Former retail employees can struggle to find suitable homes in their older age, and the new development will help to provide affordable, high-quality housing where people can have a safe and enjoyable retirement..”
RetailTRUST Chief executive Richard Boland added: “Over the next five years or more what we are creating will be transformational on so many levels. Firstly, in creating 100 new residential units on the site and secondly in delivering ‘connected homes’ enabled with future proofing in the rapidly developing digital care environment.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here